Is Hallyu too Westernized?

K-pop as we know it today really began in the 1990s, with Korean pop musicians taking stylistic inspiration from European pop and American pop and incorporating jazz, hip-hop, rock and electronic and other musical genres incorporated into their music. From the beginning, K-pop has taken Western sounds and put its stamp on them. Listening to it - other than the fact that it's in Korean - you might not really notice a big difference, stylistically speaking, from American bands of the same era.

For example, one of the most important groups in early K-pop (actually the founding group), Seo Taiji and the Boys, sounded and looked very much like an American crowd. They imitate a lot of Western vibes and styles. One member even felt fear.

From the beginning, K-pop was based on Western music, but as both industries evolved into the 21st century, it did differ from American pop music.

In the early 2000s, K-pop fell into a downturn, and power groups such as HOT in the 1990s disbanded. In fact, only solo superstars like Rain achieved much success. However, the popularity of boy band TVXQ ushered in the beginning of a new era. This was followed by a group of popular 'second generation' groups such as SS501 (2005), Super Junior (2005), Big Bang (2006), Wonder Girls (2007), Girls' Generation (2007), Kara (2007), SHINee (2008), 2NE1 (2009), 4Minute (2009), T-ara (2009) and After School (2009). This is when K-pop really started. With the rise of social media, K-pop was able to spread throughout Asia and the West.

Third generation groups have further spread the influence of K-pop and fully integrated themselves into the world of social media, becoming even more popular. Girls Day (2010), B Zone (2011), Exo (2012), BAP (2012), BTS (2013), Got7 (2014), Red Velvet (2014), Day6 (2015), Steenteen (2015) and other groups Blackpink (2016) and NCT (2016) as the third generation group have had a great impact on the industry.

However, this development also began to separate K-pop more from Western pop music, and the way the industry grew marked a clear difference. The three largest companies in terms of sales are SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, and JYP Entertainment, but they are also the agencies responsible for managing, recruiting, training, marketing, and financing artists.

In Korea, there is a very extreme type of artist management that defines the industry and distinguishes it from the West. Young people are recruited into the company and are trained, whether as rappers, singers, dancers or appearances, until they are allowed to debut solo or (usually) with a group whose members, names and concepts are chosen. company. The company has greater control over an artist's image and output, deciding when they debut, what albums they release, and their creative intentions. Young trainees, sometimes as young as 12 or 13, will sign contracts with companies. They will live in the dorms and abide by the rules outlined in the contract above, which may include rules such as no dating.

That's the industry, but what about the actual look and sound of K-pop? How does it compare to western pop music. Are they really that different? The answer is, it depends. Look at a song like Jooyoung's "Wet" - just pure R&B. Where does R&B come from? It's American. Jesse's Gucci feels like it could be another American style rap song on the airwaves in America. Red Velvet popularized R&B and rap music, clearly visible in songs like Bad Bad.

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